Alternative headline: National to spend $30m to sacrifice some of your lives so our trip is slightly faster.
The changes have been endorsed by transport researchers and street safety advocates as effective measures to help reduce the number of Kiwis killed and injured on the roads.
That’s all there is to it.
Hey there, for me from the other side of the world further proof that things are largely the same everywhere.
30m is nothing in government budget. It’s so funny how they always mention the cost cause they know how tight we all are with money.
It would pay for quite a few teachers or nurses.
And it’s never just the sticker price when the polits burble this kind of nonsense in the media.
Based on a quick search of treasury’s budget publications I’ll assume 2022’s total government revenue to be 150b. 30m is 0.2% of that.
Holy shit! They’re prepared to dump 0.2% of the whole budget on a political football.
I recently drove SH6 over the Whangamoas. Most areas that were once 100 are now 80 or lower (except the closest part near Blenheim). I was towing a trailer, and it did not add any appreciable time to the trip, but made the whole drive much less stressful. No more Utes up my arse because how dare I not do the full 100 on the windy as fuck road. So from my personal experience I like the change.
It also helps that 80 is right around the most fuel efficient speed, which is nice now that petrol is $3+
If it were fit for purpose each location they changed it, that would be great. But I’ve yet to meet anyone who (for example) thinks changing the road from Featherston to Masterton to 80kph is fit for purpose. Especially the Featherston-Greytown section which is probably the straightest and best maintained piece of road in the Wairarapa.
The only thing it’s done is force more traffic onto side roads which are still 100.
Also, well I appreciate the frustration of having others up your arse (ha) there could also be something to be said for pulling over if/when you are in a slower vehicle (e.g. towing a trailer) - not saying that you don’t pull over, but the amount of people that don’t, even with slow vehicle bays (or worse speeding up at passing lanes) makes the whole thing more dangerous.
Hello. It’s the only walking and cycling route through a densly populated(by rural NZ standards) area. It’s also a very busy road that can be a pain to turn on and off. I’d rather they built a shared path, improved the busy intersections as they are doing, and left it at 100. But in the absense of that, this is an improvement.
I’d have thought the speed limit between Featherston-Greytown is more due to the volume of traffic on a relatively narrow road, due to how not undulating or curvacious it was. Particularly as there’s been a decent number of collisions due to people turning on from the side roads etc.
Not sure I’d describe it as narrow, certainly not compared to other Wairarapa roads, or Wellington roads either for that matter. It’s got a wide median on both sides the entire way. If I could figure out how to post a picture form the mobile client I use, I’d add a picture to demonstrate. I do understand what you mean about the side roads though.
In the Carterton to Masterton stretch they’ve now put roundabouts in 3 different locations and a wire divider down separating the two sides - although I know some locals are unhappy as there is now a lack of turnaround areas - which presumably is to deal with the side road issue, but still the limit is (theoretically when complete) also 80 even with upgrades, again pushing more traffic down side roads.
I can’t speak for Wairarpa so I leave that to you.
I always pull over. I have a wife and kids who all get car sick, so I take it pretty easy generally. But my point wasn’t about me having people behind me doing 80 in a 100 zone - that would be understandable. My point was, previously large stretches of the road were uncomfortable at the posted limit, but even doing the limit angry locals would ride your arse only to Hoon past on a blind corner and speed off. My anecdotal evidence is the reduced limit has cooled people’s driving temperament noticably. I even got two toots for pulling over, and a couple of hazard light flashes - something that hadn’t happened in a long time before the limit reduction.
My partner actually purchased a little thumbs up light with a button we can hit when driving to thank the folks that do pull over.
I’m sure this whole situation depends on the particular road in question. On the remutakas the only people I’ve ever seen passing on blind corners are motorbikes which is incredibly stupid and suicidal. But there is a big speed differential between people who know the road and people who don’t - understandably so - but plenty of inconsiderate drivers (both slow and fast too). Generally trucks are the best at pulling over
Considering how windy that road is I really don’t get why the locals went so feral about it being lowered. Even the straighter bits of roads have enough of an up-and-down that you can’t see oncoming traffic so you can’t overtake slower vehicles.
Ditto the Napier-Taupo. There’s a section on the Western side that’s 80 well after it needs to, and ditto at the bottom of the Esk Valley - but all of the rest of it just isn’t a 100km/h road, despite what the munters in their Hilux’s think.
I drove that road just before the new limits came in, my impression was the sections that needed to be 80 already were, and a competent driver could easily travel at 100 on the rest.
It’s also worth noting the road was in appalling condition, with a number of spots of flushing, as well as a ridiculous amount of potholes. I managed to wheelspin going up a hill at 80 kmh, the traction was that bad.
$100 says the locals still overtake on blind hills.
Also, going fast is manly, by lowering a speed limit you’re essentially cutting off their balls.
I personally have not noticed significant changes in travel times due to the reduction in speed limits, which may just be because of where I live (Transmission Gully and the Kāpiti Expressway have definitely cut travel times, more than offsetting any difference in speed changes on other roads).
I found it hard to get recent data, but found this interesting (vs National’s claim that Road to Zero isn’t working):
Deaths peaked in 2017, but really dropped in 2020 and 2021 (presumably COVID related). Then we have 2022 which was 374 deaths, the highest since 2018. But what was the rate compared to the distance traveled? I haven’t found a 2022 VKT number, but it would be interesting to see. Also, one off blips in data don’t mean that a programme with a 30 year plan isn’t working. In fact, given COVID, I don’t think you could judge the programme at all for at least another few years.
Now if someone says “we shouldn’t spend this money on X because it could save even more lives spent on Y” then ok cool. But I think we all know if they cut Road to Zero it will be to pay for the lack of money they allocated for their promised road projects.
Given how many things have happened regarding our roads the last few years, such as new motorways and expressways opening and safety upgrades to existing roads, as well as modern cars getting constantly safer, I don’t think we have enough evidence to say lower speed limits did anything conclusively.
I’d agree, but ultimately lower speed limits aren’t about reducing the number of crashes caused by excessive speed. It’s about accepting crashes will happen, and reducing the damage when it does happen.
It’s a broad brush and we may never be able to tie one thing to the outcome.
I think this is an important point that is missed a lot. The reduced speed limits aim to reduce the harm of serious crashes. Any data needs to include the number of crashes to the number of crashes that have serious harm and death, then compare these to other years.
The only upside that I can see to reverting back to old speed limits, is the marbre maintaining vailability of childrens organs for a transplant. As ever, more porer pedestrians killed than welthy pedestrians who live outside the towns and cities.
